Two dead after venomous spiders invade Indian town

[Eric]

Residents of the town of Sadiya, in Assam state, say that on the evening of May 8 as they were celebrating a Hindu festival swarms of spiders suddenly appeared and attacked them, The Times of India reported.

Over the next few days two people - a man, Purnakanta Buragohain, and an unnamed school boy - died after being bitten by the spiders. Scores more turned up at the town's hospital with spider bites.

District authorities are panicking and are considering spraying the town with the insecticide DDT.

Locals say the most terrifying aspect is that spiders appear in swarms and their behaviour is highly aggressive.

"It leaps at anything that comes close. Some of the victims claimed the spider latched on to them after biting. If that is so, it needs to be dealt with carefully. The chelicerae and fangs of this critter are quite powerful," head of the department of life sciences at Dibrugarh University Dr LR.Saikia said.

Teams of Indian arachnid experts have flocked to the town, hoping to identify the species, but so far they have drawn a blank.

They say it could be a tarantula, a black wishbone or even a funnel-web spider - or it could be a whole new species.

One thing they agree on is that it is not native to the area as there is no record of venomous spiders in Assam.

full article : http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/the-other-side/two-dead-after-venomous-spiders-invade-indian-town/story-e6frfhk6-1226384482920


that's why im afraid of spiders

[MKR&*42]

CRy, going to constantly panic today now LOL. Urgh god, i never knew spiders could kill, i presumed some could make you seriously ill but not death.

[Samantha.]

The same as the above. I never knew spiders could actually kill, I just thought they made you ill and you could get better from a bite.

R.I.P to the two that died!

[Kieran]

Have you never seen Eight Legged Freaks.... :P

[Paige.]

I actually never knew spiders could kill either :L This is terrible :( R.I.P to the two that died

[dbgtz]

Here they are apparently:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/13788638.cms


And so the invasion begins. But seriously, I'd hate if this were to ever happen over here.

[Samantha]

They're massive and scary, I couldn't deal with that if I lived there. I'd struggle with just one never mind a lot of them. Here's the girl who saw a small spider in the sink the other day and was scared to get it.

[Lee]

Oh dear, RIP to the victims!

[David]

Obviously I'm one of the few people on here that knew some species can kill :P never heard of spiders to act like that before, especially in groups. interesting.

[dirrty]

Obviously I'm one of the few people on here that knew some species can kill :P never heard of spiders to act like that before, especially in groups. interesting.
i'm actually shocked that some people didn't that. seriously, that **** cray

[Stephen]

I thought everyone knew some spiders could kill :S dumbpplaredumb

[iLogan]

Oh god, I can't stand spiders.

[Red]

OMG. I feel physically sick after reading that and why oh why did I click the image. Omg I can't imagine an aggressive swarm of those beasts. I would be too afraid to leave my house. RIP those two people.

[Succubus]

Poor people! RIP them.

I've gone off spiders now, screw a swarm of them.

[Shar]

oh those things are hideous.

[Jurv]

i thought everyone knew that spiders could kill.. how strange, but yeah that's awful.

[CaptainAce$$]

I knew spiders could kill. R.I.P to the two that died.

[peteyt]

Looking at that picture is making me very nauseous

[GommeInc]

I thought everyone knew some spiders could kill :S dumbpplaredumb
Isn't the Black Widow a famous killer? It's one we are all told about :S